Line #149 Wrestling/KanakoUrai


1	%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1589778231030706100
2	%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
3	%%
4	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/asuka_face.jpg]]
5	[[caption-width-right:350:[[RedBaron The Empress of Tomorrow.]]]]
6	%%
7	->''"No one is ready for Asuka!"''
8
9	Kanako Urai (浦井佳奈子, ''Urai Kanako'', born September 26, 1981) is a Japanese {{professional wrestl\|ing}}er currently signed to Wrestling/{{WWE}}, where she performs under the ring name Asuka, although she's also worked as a gravure idol, video game journalist, entrepreneur, graphic designer and mocap actor.
10
11	Originally working as a designer, Urai turned to wrestling when she was inspired by many of the great wrestlers of her time, including the likes of Wrestling/KeijiMutoh, Wrestling/AkiraMaeda and Wrestling/MinoruSuzuki amongst many others. After training with Yuki Ishikawa, she debuted for the all-female promotion [=AtoZ=] in June 2004 as Kana, spending nearly two years there before suddenly retiring in March 2006 due to chronic nephritis. A year and a half and a graphic design agency later, however, Kana returned to the ring as a freelancer, working for several ''joshi puroresu'' (Japanese women's pro wrestling) promotions as well as Wrestling/ProWrestlingZERO1. She eventually found a home with the Passion Red stable and NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling promotion, winning her first professional wrestling title via the NEO Tag Team Championship which she and Nanae Takahashi held for two months in 2009, until she quit the stable at the start of 2010.
12
13	In April, she held the first of several Kana Pro self-produced events, and by summer 2010 she began working regularly for SMASH, Wrestling/YoshihiroTajiri's follow-up replacement for Wrestling/FightingOperaHUSTLE. She quickly developed an arrogant, power-hungry character in which she became the top {{heel}} first for SMASH, then for ''joshi puroresu'' in general, as well as the leader of a stable called Triple Tails in both SMASH and Pro Wrestling Wave, which she joined following the folding NEO at the end of the year. When SMASH folded in 2012 to be replaced by Wrestling New Classic, Kana signed a home promotion contract with WNC, ostensibly ending her days as a freelancer, though this didn't work out in practice — not only did she appear several times for Wrestling/DramaticDreamTeam in addition to her Wave commitments and Kana-Pro events, and she wound up quitting WNC at the end of the year due to late payment issues. During her time in these promotions she became the inaugural and first two-time SMASH Diva Champion, a two-time Wave Tag Team Champion[[note]]with Triple Tails teammates Ayumi Kurihara and Mio Shirai[[/note]], and five-time [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/ddt/ironman-hm.html DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion]][[note]]a parody of the 24/7 championship concept, whose "champions" have included inanimate objects such as ladders, toy dolls, and even the title belt itself[[/note]].
14
15	Aside from staying with Wave, Kana continued to find work through other joshi promotions such as JWP Joshi Puroresu, Ice Ribbon, and Reina Joshi Puroresu, as well as her own Kana-Pro and Triple Tails.S shows. She has also made rare appearances for Wrestling/ProWrestlingNOAH and Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling. She became was a one-time [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/jwp/jwp-s.html JWP Openweight Champion]], one-time Reina World Tag Team Champion with Arisa Nakajima, and one-time Reina World Women's Champion during this time. She has also frequently traveled abroad to the United States to compete for Wrestling/{{SHIMMER}} and Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}}, often chasing after the SHIMMER Tag Team Championship with [=LuFisto=] but never obtaining. In contrast to the majority of her Japanese work, much of her time in America was spent working as a {{face}}.
16
17	In July 2015, Kana revealed her plans to retire from professional wrestling and try new things after an upcoming Kana-Pro event in September. However, this would be misdirection, as she signed with Wrestling/{{WWE}} the following month, later taking on the ring name Asuka when she officially debuted on the [[Wrestling/{{WWE NXT}} NXT]] developmental brand. At ''NXT Takeover: Dallas'', the first big show of 2016's Wrestling/WrestleMania weekend, she defeated Wrestling/{{Bayley}} for the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-nxt-wm.html NXT Women's Championship]]. On NXT, she became the longest-reigning champion within a single run in history.[[note]]Wrestling/ShaynaBaszler surpassed her in total number of days in 2020, but this was divided between two reigns.[[/note]] The next year would see Asuka move up to the ''Raw'' main roster, soon claiming two landmark victories as a SoleSurvivor in a Wrestling/SurvivorSeries elimination match in 2017 and the first-ever winner of the Women's Wrestling/RoyalRumble match in 2018. By the end of 2018, she captured the [=SmackDown=] women's title for the first time ever and defended it successfully for 100 days, a reign where she notably became the only person to cleanly defeat Wrestling/BeckyLynch in her "The Man" era (by making her tap out, no less).
18
19	After losing the [=SmackDown=] title, she moved to the TagTeam division with fellow Japanese wrestler Kairi Sane as the Kabuki Warriors, first debuting with Wrestling/{{Paige}} as their manager but later getting rid of her after turning heel. Eventually, they managed to defeat Wrestling/AlexaBliss and Wrestling/NikkiCross to become the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions and elevate that title higher than any other wrestler had done before, going as far as to secure the main event spot of ''TLC'' 2019 in a TLC match against Becky and Wrestling/CharlotteFlair.
20
21	In 2020, she won the Women's Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank briefcase; the next night, it was revealed that inside the case was the Raw Women's Championship, because Becky vacated the title due to pregnancy. This made Asuka the second female WWE Wrestling/GrandSlamChampion and the first woman on the roster to win both the Royal Rumble and Money in the Bank briefcase. After this, she went on to main event ''RAW'' in many shows for months as she feuded with the remaining three of the "Four Horsewomen" (Bayley, Charlotte Flair, and Wrestling/SashaBanks). At the end of the year, she won the tag team titles a second time while still holding the RAW Women Championship, making her the fourth-ever female double champion in history, and the first woman ever to win the tag team titles with different partners.
22
23	Becky Lynch, who never again thought of any opponent as being at her level after becoming The Man, admitted Asuka was the only wrestler she needed to fight out of [[WorthyOpponent personal desire]]. And that's not a light statement; Asuka is considered to be pretty much the FinalBoss of the whole WWE women's division. Many wrestlers (from Wrestling/EmberMoon to Wrestling/{{Natalya\|Neidheart}} to Charlotte Flair) have stated that working with Asuka was one of, if not the highest point of their careers, and WWE themselves positioned her inside the top 5 of their best female wrestlers of all time. Her career even transcends any female division, with plenty of male wrestlers like [[Wrestling/YoshihiroTajiri Tajiri]], Wrestling/KennyOmega, Wrestling/TripleH, and Wrestling/{{Rusev\|AndLana}} calling her one of the greatest overall wrestlers of all time. Weekly Puroresu magazine has featured her on their cover plenty of times, and famed journalist [[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter Dave Meltzer]] called her one of the best overall wrestlers in WWE today. Hell, she even [[BeyondTheImpossible got the respect]] of none other than Wrestling/MinoruSuzuki himself.
24
25	Not to be confused with musician [[Music/{{Kana}} Moon Kana]].
26
27	Oh, and [[HiddenDepths she also has]] [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZFzfw5Idu6qC1ub3eVl2YA a YouTube channel]].
28	----
29	!!"These tropes are the future":
30
31	* TenMinuteRetirement: Announced she was retiring from pro wrestling in September to try something else, was on NXT in October. A 21 day retirement.
32	* AbortedArc:
33	** During the build up of Asuka's streak once she made the main roster, she suddenly added the cross-armbar as a finisher. The implication was that they were setting her up as a rival for the soon-to-debut Wrestling/RondaRousey. This arc got as far as Asuka winning the Women's Rumble and then refusing to show respect to Ronda when she walked out[[note]]to be fair here, some fans felt Ronda walking out at that point was taking Asuka's moment away from her, and Asuka was justified in refusing to respect a woman who'd just been so disrespectful to her[[/note]]. And that was as far as the [=Asuka/Rousey=] angle went. Asuka's streak was broken by Wrestling/CharlotteFlair and she went to Smackdown, Rousey went to Raw, and the closest the two ever came to crossing paths again was Ronda screwing Becky and Charlotte out of a Smackdown Women's Championship ladder match in which Asuka just happened to be the third competitor and thus able to capitalize.
34	** Her feud with Wrestling/MandyRose and Wrestling/SonyaDeville for the Smackdown women's title was also this. Mandy actually managed to get a match against her in ''[[Wrestling/WWEFastlane FastLane]] 2019'', however the whole feud was aborted once Wrestling/CharlotteFlair took the title from Asuka on a Smackdown show in order to have the Flair as champion for the ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 35'' main event. Later it was revealed in a documentary that the planned match for ''[=WrestleMania=] 35'' was gonna be Sonya vs Asuka for the title.
35	* TheAce: The first female ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble'' winner, the second female Wrestling/GrandSlamChampion (after Bayley) ,and is highly respected by the fans and her colleagues. And that's just in Wrestling/{{WWE}}. [[Wrestling/RusevAndLana Miro]] (formerly WWE's Rusev) has on his Website/YouTube channel called her the best wrestler in the ''world'', between women and men.
36	* ActionGirl: Even more than most women wrestlers, she's willing to fight men and to even book herself against them when the opportunity presents itself. Becomes DarkActionGirl when arrogance drives her heel.
37	* AntiHero: Asuka's face persona on the main roster is more or less that of an unstoppable force of nature with no qualms about plowing through ''anyone'', heel or face. Despite this, she has been shown on numerous occasions to be a supremely honorable woman, showing nothing but pure respect to anyone who can give her a good fight.
38	* AntiVillain: Asuka's heel persona in the main roster is presented as the middle ground between full-fledged heroes like Wrestling/BeckyLynch and complete monsters like Wrestling/ShaynaBaszler. Never insults the fans and is appreciative of hers, is full of spirit to never give up, and is very protective of her little sister Kairi; yet she's ruthless, disrespectful in the mic to her opponents, and willing to cheat if necessary.
39	* ArchEnemy:
40	** Syuri Kondo was this in SMASH and other promotions, especially after KANA's heel turn.
41	** Team Disingenuous ([[Wrestling/TenilleDashwood Emma]] and Wrestling/DanaBrooke) at the star of her NXT run, and Ember Moon towards the end, becoming the closest to breaking Asuka's undefeated streak.
42	** Asuka seems to be destined to always cross paths with Wrestling/CharlotteFlair and Wrestling/BeckyLynch. In one way or another all three have helped each other to reach the very top of their careers.
43	* ArrogantKungFuGirl:
44	** In SMASH, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains until she was belittled, defeated and belittled some more]] by another one named Serena Deeb. Kana never completely reformed but it was a loss that made Kana stronger and [[HeelFaceTurn turned her face]]...for a little while.
45	** This attitude has returned during his NXT/WWE run as one of her signature is to mock her opponent by their taunt.
46	* AssKicksYou: Uses a hip attack as part of her moveset. In the past it's been called Billiken and even been known to finish off seated opponents.
47	* AuthorAppeal: She was a big fan of the Japanese [[Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederation U-system]] and everything related to shoot-style, and it shows: her kickpads are similar to those used in Wrestling/SatoruSayama's Shooto, while most of her moveset is modelled after Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada's (down to using the headkick, the armbar and the crossface chickenwing as finishing moves).
48	* BadassAdorable: While in WWE as a face she would always smile, dance, play, and get excited quickly in interviews. Even as a heel she has a tendency to act very childish and innocent with a very cute voice when introducing herself. But if you get into a ring with her, you'll be lucky if you survive 5 minutes. Also extends to real life, where she has a reputation of being one of the greatest female workers in the world, but also loves to squee on her [=YouTube=] channel about food, video games (especially anything ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}''), and her own merchandise.
49	* BadassBoast: Asuka's WWE entrance theme is a long, wonderfully poetic, and ''exceedingly'' epic one of these.
50	-->''From far and wide and lightyears away''
51	-->''Cast from the shadows that light my way''
52	-->''Fallen idols scream yesterday''
53	-->''Your kings and your queens hit the ground like rain''
54	-->''From far and wide and lightyears away''
55	-->''The one force of nature they call by name''
56	-->''I come from tomorrow to take back today''
57	-->'''''I am the future!'''''
58	** Also her CatchPhrase "No one is ready for Asuka".
59	* BadassLongcoat: Her entrance attire is an immensely long open kimono, which billows out behind her as she makes her way to the ring.
60	* BashBrothers: With Kairi Sane as the Kabuki Warriors. Not only they work perfectly in synch while wrestling but also have no doubt when it comes to protect each other, whether is by taking finishers for the other or helping each other instead of going for the win. One would say this heartwarming sister-like bond (they actually call each other sisters in promos) would make them a perfectly face team if it wasn't because they like to screw everyone else by cheating.
61	* BeingGoodSucks: The reason why she and Kairi turned heel in the first place was because they lost all the time for abiding by the rules. She turns again when Kairi returns and like her joins Wrestling/DamageCTRL.
62	* BerserkButton:
63	** Touching her breasts, which has its roots in Kana challenging chauvinistic male wrestlers back when she was primarily a baby face. Even after her heel turn Funaki was able to set her off by [[IShallTauntYou holding up a picture]] of her torso.
64	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9njxd5NWp00 Calling her anything short of "Empress" on social media]]; it's gotten all the way up to the [[DisproportionateRetribution point]] where [[https://twitter.com/wweasuka/status/1099003141943513088 she threatens to block people who break this rule]].
65	** Attacking or mocking Kairi sends her into unstoppable rage mode. Even mentioning her name in a fight would get you a non stop beating.
66	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Asuka will ask for handshakes and show opponents respect, but if you try to take advantage of that [[https://youtu.be/pWxlQ0Bz5NI?t=16s she'll be happy to make you pay for it.]]
67	* BewareTheSillyOnes: She's one of TheDreaded women in WWE despite being a known {{Cloudcuckoolander}}.
68	* BigBad:
69	** Has been this in SMASH, Reina, and JWP.
70	** Managed to become one for Wrestling/BeckyLynch of all people. After becoming the only person to beat Becky via submission (and so far the only one who beat her clean since becoming ''The Man''). Becky didn't mind at first and let it go once she won the Rumble that same night. However, as Asuka went more and more to the dark side, the shadow of her never being able to beat Asuka before appeared again and forced her to doubt her own skills as a wrestler. Asuka, very conscious about this, had nothing better to do so she decided she wanted to destroy Becky's career by proving her right. After this, Becky never stopped refering Asuka as the ultimate obstacle she needed to surpass. Asuka of course milked this to the last drop, even going so far as to have [[TheDragon her dragon Kairi Sane]] wrestle Lynch while she sitted on top of a corner watching them fight from above for her amusement.
71	* BigEater: Much of her vlog depicts her cooking and eating rather [[FoodPorn sumptuous meals.]]
72	* BigSisterInstinct: God help you if you try to harm Kairi.
73	* BloodKnight: As she claims on her Twitter account, she doesn't care about wins or loses. She just want her opponents to bring a fight that is up to her high level. That's the only way she'll ever be satisfied with her ''Art''. Oh and she will mercilessly crush anyone who can't.
74	* BoyishShortHair: From her ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble 2023'' return and on, in addition to once again taking on most of her old gimmick, Asuka readopted the short, rough hairstyle she always wore as Kana, this time pairing it with her signature blue-and-pink bicolor hair dye.
75	* BringIt: On more than one occasion, when Asuka has had beef with multiple women, she's requested a match to let off steam. The authority figure asks who Asuka wants to face, and she responds "Both/all of them!"
76	* BrokenWinLossStreak: Wrestling/MercedesMartinez handed Kana in SHIMMER. Her undefeated streak in WWE was broken (cleanly) by Wrestling/CharlotteFlair at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 34''.
77	* BullyingADragon: On her self promoted shows she tends to pick fights with much larger wrestlers. Sometimes these challenges are plausible on paper, such as goofy Wrestling/{{D\|ramaticDreamTeam}}DT junior heavyweights like Munenori Sawa, sometimes she sets her sights on mixed martial arts champions nearly a hundred pounds heavier than her, such as Wrestling/MinoruSuzuki of Pancrase, but it rarely ends well for Kana.
78	* CatchPhrase:
79	** "Nobody is ready for Asuka!"
80	** "EZ-PZ"
81	** "WE DON'T CARE!"
82	* ChefOfIron: In her WebSite/YouTube channel [=KanaChanTV=], she cook a Japanese food Shio Chanko Nabe and Pork Miso Soup.
83	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Her flailing style of dancing and tendency to cut [[NoIndoorVoice loud]] [[ChewingTheScenery hammy]] promos in [[LanguageBarrier very stilted English or full-on Japanese]] makes her come off as a bit of a goofball. It's not uncommon for her antics to get very visible "WTF" looks from prospective opponents, and as such you could argue [[ObfuscatingInsanity she does this intentionally to throw competititors off their game.]]
84	* CoolMask: She wears [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noh#Masks Noh masks]] in her entrances, and they're all amazingly designed.
85	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: As Reina's kayfabe "consultant" and later "general producer", where she often used her power to screw over her enemies and put herself and her friends in higher positions on the roster, eventually winning both the Reina World Tag Team and World Women's Championships in part because of this.
86	* TheCorrupter: Both her and Kairi got [[Wrestling/IoShirai Iyo Sky]] to turn on {{Wrestling/Bayley}}.
87	* CuteAndPsycho: She acts cutely outside the ring, but in the ring she becomes totally crazy and sadistic, and has also been tyrannically power-mad at times.
88	* DancingIsSeriousBusiness: Not long after beating Becky and Charlotte in WWE, Asuka got very confident and started incorporating dancing as a way to mock opponents. Whether she was facing dangerous opponents, interfering on other people's matches, or even in the middle of her own matches, there was always time for dancing. This stayed with her after she turned face again because [[AndYouThoughtItWouldFail fans love it]].
89	* DarkIsNotEvil: After turning face again in 2020, she kept her black costume and green painted tears.
90	* DarkerAndEdgier: A visual change to go along with a metaphorical one. Following their heel turn to secure the Women's Tag Team Championship, Asuka and Kairi traded out their characteristic colorful gear for all-black ring attire. For Asuka, this would eventually include a ripped black tee, evoking some serious pastel goth aesthetic. Taken even further with her Wrestling/RoyalRumble 2023 return. She comes back with darker hair, a new menacing mask, a DarkReprise of her theme and menacing MonsterClown face paint.
91	* DefeatingTheUndefeatable:
92	** With her winning streak on NXT (longer than Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}'s famous streak in WCW), beating her was treated as this. Except that it never happened; nearly a year and a half later, she relinquished the title due to injury and headed for ''Raw''.
93	** She actually did this by managing to make Wrestling/BeckyLynch tap out clean when her "The Man" monster push was in full effect. A year later the tables turned around and she '''became''' this for Becky.
94	** Asuka ended Wrestling/BiancaBelair's reign as Raw Women's Championship at ''Night of Champions 2023''. Prior to this, Bianca Belair has been unstoppable for two years since winning the [=SmackDown=] Women's Championship at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 37'' with the only person to defeat her being Wrestling/BeckyLynch and even that requires a cheap shot. After avenging her defeat at the next ''Mania'', she goes on to carry the Raw Women's Championship for a whole year, surpassing Becky's first reign.
95	* {{Determinator}}: When WWE told their wrestlers that they didn't have to go to work during the COVID-19 Quarantine, they found themselves short of staff. Asuka was among the ones who decided to keep wrestling and boy she did. During the weeks before Wrestlemania 36, she went to appear in both shows RAW and Smackdown regularly in matches, interferences, interviews and even as guest commentator. She even filmed matches for Main Event, the third WWE show. Of course she worked Wrestlemania 36 and was there to wrestle in the RAW post-mania the next day[[note]]which wasn't live but she still recorded that match and her Wrestlemania one back to back which is even more awesome.[[/note]].
96	** This eventually evolved into a whole year where Vince's ready-made response to any mishap involving shortage of personnel, was "Send Asuka out there". With some RAW shows having up to three segments involving Asuka and some [=PPVs=] having her wrestle more than once. Maybe the most extreme example of this was the Clash of Champions PPV where Asuka was initially booked in a match that unfortunately was set to happen in the pre show. But due to an unexpected break happening around those days, not only Asuka's match was moved back to the main card but she also had to go out and wrestle '''a second time''' against Bayley for the title to cover for an unfortunate Nikki Cross.
97	* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: During one ''Raw'' match with [[WrestlingMonster Nia Jax]], Asuka managed to injure the former's leg enough to render her '''''unable to continue'''''.
98	* DistaffCounterpart:
99	** To [[Wrestling/KentaKobayashi Hideo Itami]], both entering NXT as well-known Japanese wrestlers known for their stiff strikes and introduced in their debut by Wrestling/WilliamRegal under their original ring names/first names so they could personally reveal their new WWE names.
100	** To Wrestling/BrockLesnar, as the beastly uber-dominant athlete who represents something different to the usual sports-entertainment fare of WWE and seems utterly brutal and unbeatable as a result, and who it is a [[TemptingFate horrible idea]] to [[DoNotTauntCthulhu taunt]] or [[BullyingADragon provoke]]. Her cutesy demeanor and bugeisha look is the only aspect of her that seems like it may defy this trope…except it actually enhances the ''distaff'' part.
101	** In Japan she was this to Wrestling/MinoruSuzuki, the dangerously stiff worker who also happens to be a freelancer and eventually a PowerStable leader looking to [[TakeOverTheWorld take over Japanese wrestling]]. One of her stables was even initially called Kana-gun, clearly modeled after Suzuki-gun.
102	** There have been some comparisons to Wrestling/ShinsukeNakamura as well, for the same reasons as Itami, aside from the ring name since Nakamura got to keep his name. Reached new levels when she eagerly greeted Nakamura when he arrived at the WWE Performance Center for the first time, and later ascended when both she and Nakamura won their respective Wrestling/RoyalRumble matches in 2018.
103	* TheDreaded: Has become this in NXT, due to everything about her being simultaneously alluring and terrifying. People were surprised when Wrestling/{{Bayley}} actually gave her a fight in their NXT Women's Championship title match at Takeover: Dallas.
104	* EarlyBirdCameo: Trained at the Battlarts Dojo before she made her wrestling debut in Major Girls Fighting [=AtoZ=].
105	* EasilyForgiven: Averted in Japan. Her anti-joshi manifesto continued to be used as a storyline sore point between her and many joshi wrestlers for years in several promotions, and her rivalry with Syuri has always been evident whenever they've interacted. Even when acting as allies, KANA and Syuri's relationship remained uneasy and the longer they had to work together the more inevitable a turn became.
106	* ExtremityExtremist: She's notorious even in the harsh world of joshi wrestling for her stiff {{kick\|Chick}}s and strikes.
107	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: The one thing you could always admire from evil Asuka is that she loved LOVED Kairi.
108	* EvilCounterpart: Kana and the Shirai sisters' Triple Tails turned out to be this to Syuri's Apple Tale dance group.
109	* EvilIsHammy: Asuka's NoIndoorVoice is highlighted following her 2019 Heel turn.
110	* FacialMarkings: A trademark of Asuka's WWE appearance is a horizontal black line painted across her face, just under her eyes and across the bridge of her nose. It's meant to resemble the similar black lines drawn on the noh mask she often wears in her entrance.
111	* FanserviceModel: Apart of her wrestling career, Kana is also known in Japan as a gravure model.
112	* FieryRedhead: Her hair has consistently been some shade of neon red throughout the course of her career and she is highly aggressive and notoriously stiff in the ring.
113	* FinishingMove: Kana lock (crossface chickenwing), Kanagon (grounded dragon sleeper)... biliken (diving hip attack). In NXT the Asuka lock remains and she also tends to knock opponents out with head kicks.
114	* {{Flanderization}}: Was set back in her bookings for a couple of years as well as mostly stuck in the character of an arrogant power-hungry schemer in Japan for over half a decade thanks to the Weekly Pro-Wrestling WorkedShoot manifesto about the problem with joshi wrestling, a move which was intended to get her heat with the fans but only confused them and instead got her heat with the other wrestlers and promoters.
115	* GamerChick: In Japan, she had a side job as a game journalist, and she sometimes has video gaming content on her Youtube channel.
116	* GenkiGirl: Can give off that impression a lot of the time, as demonstrated in her NXT debut segment, when she was excitedly jumping around and yelling "DREAM COME TRUE" in adorably broken English. However, when her smile is directed at an enemy, it becomes clear how dangerous she is. Just ask [[Wrestling/TenilleDashwood Emma]] and Wrestling/DanaBrooke what her smile told them when they slapped her that night.
117	* GratuitousJapanese: As a face in WWE she usually spoke English, except when she got sufficiently angry to start screaming in Japanese. After her heel turn, she now speaks only in Japanese with some few English phrases tossed in the middle so her opponents (and the audience) know she's insulting them.
118	* GreenAndMean: She capped off her second FaceHeelTurn at WWE by spraying Nikki Cross in the face with faux-poisonous green mist, a long-standing traditional heel tactic in Japanese wrestling. For much of her run since then, she has come to the ring with green face paint that resembles green liquid pouring from her eyes and mouth.
119	* GrinOfAudacity: When you see her wide, toothy smile, it's usually the precursor to a rapid-fire NoHoldsBarredBeatdown.
120	* HeelFaceTurn: She's broke her character after Wrestling/BeckyLynch announced her pregnancy and vacant her RAW Women's Champion to Asuka.
121	* TheHero: Of WWE's post-''Wrestling/WrestleMania 36'' Women's Division, with Wrestling/DrewMcIntyre carrying the torch for the men. With face of the company Wrestling/BeckyLynch away on indeterminate maternity leave, Asuka was given the RAW Women's Championship and the mantle of top babyface, reportedly, in reward for her absurd work ethic, and subsequently became the center of numerous high-profile storylines.
122	* HistoryRepeats: Her first [=SmackDown=] and Raw Women's Championships were both won from Wrestling/BeckyLynch in a special type of Ladder Match.
123	* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: If you check ItsAllAboutMe below, any Japanese company that let Kana in was basically this in kayfabe. However, the top runner here has to be Wrestling/YoshihiroTajiri. Not only didn't Tajiri fire her from SMASH the minute she singlehandedly made her name a dirty word in ''joshi'', he allowed her to align with the Shirai sisters within his company's shores. Then, when SMASH was replaced by WNC, he let her join despite Triple Tails almost running him out of town in the former. Luckily she didn't get very far as a heel, as Mio Shirai soon turned on her for disrespecting her friend, and ended up working together with Tajiri and Wrestling/MikeyWhipwreck often until the company started going under.
124	* IHaveManyNames: Kana, Ramen Woman, Tomoe Gozen, Asuka.
125	* InsistentTerminology: Do ''[[BerserkButton not]]'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9njxd5NWp00 call the Empress "queen"]].
126	* IKnowKarate: Trained in shoot style wrestling at the Battlarts Dojo and also trained in a bit of sambo with Yasuhiro Tanaka.
127	* IShallTauntYou: She occasionally makes it a point to mock her opponents by mimicking parts of their entrances both during and after her matches.
128	* ItsAllAboutMe / SmallNameBigEgo: As SMASH's BigBad, she gave herself the nickname of "Sekai no Kana", literally calling herself world-famous; tried to run Wrestling/YoshihiroTajiri out of the business and take over the company alongside her main partners in Triple Tails, the Sexy Purple Thunder Sisters; and even pissed off the entire ''joshi'' community by writing a manifesto for the Weekly Pro-Wrestling magazine in which she claimed ''joshi'' was full of wrestlers had no personality, bad attitudes, and unrealistic wrestling styles, something many ''joshi'' wrestlers felt she had absolutely no business doing. Corrupt manipulative power scheming has largely been her character in Japan ever since.
129	%%* JackOfAllStats: We got a wrestling video game journalist who makes designs for mobile platforms and wears the Platform/{{Xbox}} logo on her tights. %%Does not explain the trope
130	* KabukiTheatre: Invoked with Asuka, with her tag team of "The Kabuki Warriors" with Kairi Sane. She has used some theatrical mannerism since her time in Joshi Puroresu as Kana.
131	* LargeHam: About the time she made her main roster FaceHeelTurn with Kairi, Asuka went from being quiet and intense, largely letting her reputation do the talking for her, to being so ''absurdly'' bombastic that a typical promo would make her sound like a shounen anime villain.
132	* LightningBruiser: Can move through strikes and submissions at a frightening speed.
133	* ManifestoMakingMalcontent: In 2010, she published a "manifesto" about the state of joshi that annoyed a lot of that community. The late Stuart Allan, co-founder of the ringbelles.com website, commented: "The actual suggestions were all sensible, but the issue wasn't as much with the suggestions as the Japanese mentality at this 'rookie' wrestler with a reputation for being overly stiff in the ring telling all the joshi veterans and promoters what they needed to do to fix the entire scene." This was actually intentional, though she was hoping it would get her heat with the fans who respected and admired the joshi veterans and promoters she was calling out rather than said veterans and promoters themselves.
134	* MeaningfulRename:
135	** She changed her name from KANA to Asuka in NXT, named for Wrestling/LionessAsuka, one of the most popular and important female wrestlers in Japanese wrestling history.
136	** There's also the fact the name Asuka has a traditional meaning of ''tomorrow'' which fits her theme as "The Empress of Tomorrow". Furthermore, The Kanji for "Ka" that she uses is brought specifically from her old wrestling name KANA, making the meaning of her WWE ringname be "The Kana of tomorrow".
137	* MonsterClown:
138	** She was always known for black FacialMarkings but ended up becoming a full on clown during the time she led Kana-gun/Piero-gun.
139	** Somewhat brought back after her WWE heel turn. She usually uses the emoji clown to refer herself but now with green paint coming from her eyes instead. Also she has compared herself to Comicbook/TheJoker while feuding with Becky Lynch.
140	* MoralityPet: As the veteran half of the Kabuki Warriors, Asuka is a ruthless, trash-talking scrapper who is very willing to cheat her way to victory with a well-placed poison mist. She also has an unbending sisterly bond with her tag team partner Kairi Sane, who she always protects where she can and consoles after losses.
141	* MsFanservice: Once modeled a trilogy of gravure [=DVDs=] called ''Manifest'', as well as a fourth with Mio Shirai called ''Sadistic Tails''. Then there was [[PsychoLesbian that match with Lin Bairon]]…
142	* NoIndoorVoice: Following her 2019 Heel turn, Asuka SHOUTS IN EVERY SINGLE PROMO SHE HAS!
143	* NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: How she got away with using the green mist to win.
144	* OlderHeroVersusYoungerVillain: Against Yumi Ohka in WAVE, although that wasn't a point Kana intended to make, as she's not ''that'' much younger. Kana just couldn't help running her mouth after Misaki Ohata attributed Ohka's losses to her age. It was a point Kana intended to make during The Triple Tails' campaigns against Tajiri and the other "old men".
145	** Also against Wrestling/AlexaBliss during ''Wrestling/WrestleMania'' Season 2018. Despite Bliss being a full decade younger than Asuka, the veteran in this case was teased as Bliss' absolute most insurmountable challenge yet.
146	** She also wrestle against Wrestling/NiaJax in NXT and Main Roster.
147	** Against Wrestling/{{Carmella}} at Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank (2018) and Extreme Rules (2018).
148	** Her {{Face}} runs in WWE in general, as she joined the company already in her mid-thirties. In fact she's 7 months older than Wrestling/{{Natalya\|Neidhart}}, WWE's most tenured woman on the roster by that point (and still is as of 2023)[[note]]The oldest female wrestler employed is Wrestling/{{Tamina\|Snuka}}, the second most tenured woman, being older than Asuka by 3 years and 9 months[[/note]]
149	* OlderThanTheyLook: Urai is 40 years old as of 2021, but still looks, acts, and wrestles like someone closer to 25 in spite of being right on the edge of what many wrestlers would consider retirement age.
150	* OneSteveLimit: One of her WAVE Targets was a rookie debuting in 2015 [[OnlyOneName going only]] by the name Asuka. This caused confusion when WAVE's Asuka came out as transgender in December 2017, but later on they changed their name to Veny, thus ending the confusion.
151	* {{Otaku}}: She's a fan of ''Anime/{{Akira}}'', ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', and ''Anime/DragonBallZ.''
152	* PhraseCatcher: "Asuka's gonna kill you!" Yep, the "gonna kill you" thing handed down from Wrestling/{{Taz\|z}} to Wrestling/SamoaJoe to every badass that pops up on NXT, and she's now part of that cycle.
153	* PintSizedPowerhouse: Asuka stands at all of 5'3". This did nothing to stop her from hitting the 6'3", 240-pound Wrestling/NiaJax with a [[Wrestling/BrockLesnar Lesnar-style]] German Suplex.
154	* PowerStable:
155	** Passion Red in NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling.
156	** Triple Tails in SMASH, Kana-Pro, Pro Wrestling Wave, etc.
157	** Kana-gun, later named Piero-gun, in Reina Joshi Puroresu.
158	** Wrestling/DamageCTRL in WWE.
159	* PowerTrio: The founding members of Triple Tails were KANA and the Sexy Purple Thunder Sisters, Mio and Wrestling/IoShirai. The founders became White Tails when divisions between the wider group formed.
160	* ThePromise: Asuka made a promise to a broken Kairi (who just lost her chance to enter the MitB match) that she would win the Money in the Bank briefcase for the both of them. Fastforward to the match, Asuka managed to survive the match long enough to reach the rooftop and face Wrestling/NiaJax, the one who defeated Kairi and took her spot. Through determination and her desire to fulfill her promise, Asuka managed to defeat Nia and win the match. And then they discovered that what was actually in the briefcase was not a mere title shot, but the Women's Championship itself. Kairi was beyond happy and organized a party celebration a week later.
161	* PsychoLesbian:
162	** Towards Lin Bairon in SMASH. At one point prior to a match between the two, she suggested that the loser should remove her top and bare her breasts. The match wound up incorporating some heavily suggestive moments, and after Kana knocked Bairon out and beat her she fondled her and actually started to strip her, until Bairon suddenly came to and scurried away before the top could be removed.
163	** Also towards Arisa Nakajima by the end of 2013 on forward. She'd already had a friendship with Arisa, who actually got her into JWP early in the year, only for their friendship to turn into an explosive rivalry a few months later which culminated in Kana beating her for the JWP Openweight Championship. Towards the end of the year, after Arisa went through a losing streak, a brooding period, and a shoulder dislocation, Kana suddenly began professing her love for Arisa and even went so far as to give Nakajima a free shot at the Overweight title, and despite Arisa beating her in said match she earnestly got the two thrown back together as a team in numerous promotions afterwards.
164	** It's pretty understated in her WWE career to date, but on one occasion she gently brushed Emma's face with the back of her hand with ''that'' look on her face. Emma was understandably skeeved out.
165	* RedBaron: "World Famous", "Skull Reaper", "The Empress of Tomorrow".
166	* RedOniBlueOni: The laid back, calculating blue to the excitable, reckless [=LuFisto=]'s red.
167	* ScreamingWarrior: Just about all of Asuka's in-ring dialogue is this.
168	* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem:
169	** Convinced REINA to strip Ariya and Makoto of the World Tag Team Titles [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney then paid]] Syuri to turn on Lin Byron so that she and Arisa Nakajima could take the belts unopposed.
170	** After beating Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair at TLC 2019, she had nothing else to prove to them so the only way she would agree to one more match with Becky was if she put her title on the line.
171	* [[HesBack She's Back]]: In the aftermath of her stunning ''Wrestlemania'' defeat at the hands of Wrestling/CharlotteFlair, Asuka swapped brands and promptly went right back to doing what she does best: absolutely ''flattening'' the entire roster.
172	* ShoutOut: Her name of "Asuka" in WWE is a tribute to Wrestling/LionessAsuka.
173	* ShutUpHannibal: Told Nia Jax at their contract signing...
174	-->'''Asuka:''' You. Talk. Too much.
175	* TheSilentBob: She almost never speaks on camera when working outside the Japanese market, preferring to communicate by means of gestures and [[SlasherSmile terrifying facial expressions]]. She started cutting more English promos after she became NXT women's champion, probably to prepare her for the main roster, where she'll likely be requested to talk more often. On the main roster she has gone between the occasional English promo and promos [[BilingualBonus that switch between Japanese and English]]. After her heel turn, now she speaks almost exclusively in Japanese not caring if the fans understand or not.
176	* SkimpyVillainsSensibleHeroes: {{Downplayed\|Trope}}, in that Kana's ring gear tends to be less sensible than Syuri's but Kana has almost always used some form of [[ThisMeansWarPaint war paint]], which only got more and more exaggerated until the point she was a clown, so she wasn't tying to be "sexier" than Syuri so much as Syuri's a [[SeriousBusiness legit shooter]] with a lot less [[BoringButPractical flair for dramatics]]. Even with The Triple Tails, who ''are'' meant to be sexier than Apple Tale, Apple Tale only serve as [[PomPomGirl cheerleaders]] for Syuri during matches and are likely to run if someone attacks them. They are more sidekicks who are being mocked rather than heroes opposing villains in this context.
177	* SlasherSmile: [[http://gfycat.com/DefiniteTameBarracuda If Asuka is smiling in your direction]], ''it's bad news''. The smile ''alone'' produced an OhCrap reaction from Dana Brooke and Emma during her debut, and whenever her opponents strike a particular nerve with her in a match, her smiling is usually a sign of [[HeroicSecondWind a comeback]] and bad things for her opponent. Best summed up at the NXT announce table during Asuka's entrance at ''[=TakeOver=]: Dallas''.
178	--> '''Corey Graves:''' As beautiful as it is, Tom, that is one of the most terrifying smiles you will ever see in your life. It's a precursor to a throwdown.
179	** He smile has gotten even worse after reverting to her MonsterClown gimmick. She would occasionally just smile while "poison mist" would leak out her mouth.
180	* SpellMyNameWithAnS: WWE misspelled her name as "Kanna" when spotting her in the crowd at NXT [=TakeOver=]: Brooklyn.
181	* VillainousFriendship: With Kairi Sane. The Kabuki Warriors are a well-oiled machine who cheer for each other, come to each other's rescue and serve as each other's hype women.
182	* TagTeam:
183	** Within Triple Tails there was Kanayu with Ayumi Kurihara.
184	** At WWE, she was convinced by Paige to form The Kabuki Warriors with Kairi Sane. Notable for taking some poorly introduced and managed titles from the C-show ''Main Event'' to the '''actual''' main event of a PPV (TLC 2019).
185	** In the Mixed-Match Challenge she teamed with Wrestling/TheMiz. It was an odd pairing since Asuka was a face and Miz was a heel.
186	* TechnicolorToxin: Her cutesy demeanor, colorful hair, and extravagant kimono and ring attire make her appear as a cross between a geisha and a gravure idol, the latter her occasional trade, but in the ring she's just as dangerous as any BadassNormal woman you'll see in an anime. Corey Graves once compared her to a poison dart frog — small, brightly colored, and lethally dangerous — though really, he could've mentioned any number of real-life natural creatures who use this as a form of bait or self-defense. As a face, she only turns the venom on those who turn it on her first, putting the toxicity on a level of BewareTheNiceOnes or GoodIsNotNice. As a heel, she outright tends towards LightIsNotGood.
187	* TournamentArc
188	** Became SMASH's first Diva Champion when she gained her first victory over Serena Deeb during the tournament finals of ''SMASH 21''.
189	** Kanayu beat Uematsu*Ran to win the 2011 ''WAVE Dual Shock'' and became the promotion's first exclusive Tag Team Champions (the TLW belts were shared with JWP).
190	* TropeCodifier: The most popular and successful joshi in WWE history. There are a few who are more popular in the wider wrestling world, such as Wrestling/BullNakano, but none had been close to as successful or popular in WWE itself as Asuka.
191	* UnderwearOfPower: While this is the normal for wrestlers, she is one of the few to deliberately wear a pair of underwear over top of her trunks or have the design on the trunks replicate the look.
192	* UrExample: Won the first women's Wrestling/RoyalRumble. She is also the first to win the Royal Rumble, Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank and become a Wrestling/GrandSlamChampion as well.
193	* UseYourHead: Before her WWE debut, she would often exchange series of headbutts with her opponents. She does it less often, but women like Nikki Cross and Becky Lynch fell victim to such attacks.
194	* WhiteMaskOfDoom: Her entrance has her wearing a noh mask.
195	* WardrobeMalfunction: Has managed to avoid these over the course of her career, which is amazing consider her attires, but ultimately fell victim to this trope on the Feb 19, 2018 edition of Monday Night Raw, when her top came loose and exposed a good part of her left breast.
196	* TheWorfEffect:
197	** Immediately did this to both Wrestling/SaraDelRey and Wrestling/CheerleaderMelissa in SHIMMMER. Melissa got hers back [[CurbStompBattle with gusto]]. Sara didn't, but beat her most of the time when they wrestled elsewhere.
198	** She was on the receiving end of this in some occasions after debuting in the WWE Main Roster. The most infamous one was her two defeats against Wrestling/{{Carmella}} who had just won the SmackDown Women's championship and needed a big win to establish herself as champion, so she ended up beating Asuka twice. Asuka was also used as a sacrifice to build Wrestling/ShaynaBaszler credibility on her road to face Wrestling/BeckyLynch at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 36''.
199	* WorkedShoot: The "how to save joshi wrestling" manifesto she wrote in the early goings of her SMASH heel run. Trouble is, it backfired by pissing off her peers instead of the fans.
200	* WorthyOpponent:
201	** In her WWE NXT run Wrestling/EmberMoon is one of the few people she treats as an equal. They had history prior to WWE as Kana and Athena, Ember came the closest to beating her, and injured her to the point of her having to relinquish the title. When the two met at the ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble 2018'' Asuka was delighted.
202	** She also respects Wrestling/{{Bayley}} who was the first person to give her challenge both in NXT and RAW.
203	** In the months between Asuka's ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble'' victory and ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 34,'' Wrestling/CharlotteFlair became indisputably the greatest foe in Asuka's WWE career, with their feud ending on Charlotte ''beating Asuka's streak''. Despite the weight of such a crushing loss, Asuka - audibly and visibly struggling through tears - still congratulated Charlotte after their show-stealing match and graciously reciprocated when Charlotte locked her in a tight hug.
204	*** This, however, changed when Charlotte turned heel and started disrespecting her and her legacy while making fun of her crushing defeat during the build-up to their (and Becky) TLC match for the title. Asuka now thinks she got lucky.
205	** On the note of the above, Wrestling/BeckyLynch herself - the woman whose title Asuka would come to take at TLC - filled this spot after Charlotte's FaceHeelTurn in late 2018. In the leadup to their match at ''Royal Rumble 2019'', Becky congratulated Asuka on her title victory... and then proceeded to goad her into once more becoming the WrestlingMonster she used to be. All of this culminated in the two of them taking each other to their absolute tooth-and-nail limit at the Rumble, a match during which Asuka would be forced to use every move in her arsenal, her finisher, ''Becky's'' finisher, and finally a brutal modified Asuka Lock to finally put The Man away.
206	* YouGoGirl: If a Japanese promotion includes both sexes, she's willing and able to fight with the men. Just ask Tajiri, who she terrorized in SMASH. Or Minoru Suzuki, who she actually booked herself to take an ass-kicking from in one of her Kana-Pro events. Even in WWE she has been shown practicing her strikes on a male striking coach who happens to be a retired UsefulNotes/{{mixed martial art\|s}}ist.
207	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: The Kabuki Warriors turned on Paige with a mist to the face a couple of weeks after turning heel.

Context Wrestling / KanakoUrai